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Research & Development

Fully Funded PhD- Airborne and terrestrial Lidar to estimate tropical forest canopy metrics

Project Title:
The utility of airborne and terrestrial lidar to estimate tropical forest canopy metrics relating to carbon accounting and habitat heterogeneity

Scientific context of project
There is a pressing need for a systematic and scientifically credible global monitoring programme of the state of the world’s ecosystems. Currently, the sustainable management of ecosystems is constrained by both a lack of knowledge of ecosystem function and form and reliable data on these systems. Tropical forests are a particularly important ecosystem with data on their carbon budgets, habitat heterogeneity and related biodiversity often uncertain, particularly with respect to spatial scale. Since tropical forests are challenging environments to work in, remote sensing has been a successful approach in acquiring data on their properties. However, to-date remotely sensed data have been restricted to two-dimensions (x and y) with the third dimension (z) inferred through allometric relationships between ground data and remotely sensed data. This inference adds further uncertainty to any understanding of rainforest function and form.

The recent proliferation of airborne and terrestrial lidar (laser scanning) has shown that it is possible to acquire information on three-dimensions of a forested canopy (x,y and z) in an efficient way over much larger areas than possible through ground survey. It is possible to derive sub-canopy topography, canopy height, basal area, stem diameter, canopy height profiles, canopy cover/gaps, biomass and aboveground carbon. However, to-date this has not been investigated in a tropical forest ecosystem using an airborne laser scanner due to lack of opportunity. This will change in the summer of 2008 when both an airborne and terrestrial lidar will be made available for deployment in Peruvian Amazonia, providing a unique and exciting opportunity to collect lidar data from an area of tropical forest that has supporting ground data, ground staff and ecologists who have studied the rainforest around them. This opportunity for airborne lidar data acquisition will provide the three-dimensional data often required in order to answer key scientific questions relating to tropical forest ecosystem function and form.

Research Aim
The aim of this studentship lidar to estimate tropical habitat heterogeneity.

Applicants
Interested parties are asked to contact Doreen Boyd by email (Doreen.Boyd@Nottingham.ac.uk) as soon as possible to discuss the project and suitability. Suitable applicants include those with Masters level qualifications in remote sensing or GIS or an associated numerical/mathematical degree. Training on lidar data capture and processing will be provided. An interest in ecology would also be useful.

Closing Date
7th February 2008. Further details about the application process can be found at the school’s website under School Studentships.